Overnight Custody
by PhantomPenmanship
Summary: Jamie Foster is a young woman who made one terrible mistake that seems to be costing her everything. Already in trouble with the police, and with a fractious relationship with her overbearing and powerful father, she finds herself skipping bail on the same night Battersea Power Station explodes... apparently at the hands of the mysterious "Doctor".
1. Criminal!

_Background Note:_

_I've been a fan of Doctor Who for over two decades, watching the classic series on repeats and DVDs and being an avid watcher of the revival. The one constant in Doctor Who is reinvention, and I'm not just talking about the lead actor. Jon Pertwee (my Doctor) was a secret agent for UNIT, while Tom Baker's early years were dark and gruesome horror._

_To that end, I have created my own Doctor and companion. For all intents and purposes my stories take place "sometime after" the current series, whatever series that might be at the time of reading. He might well end up being the 18__th__ or 19__th__ Doctor by the time I'm done. Although of course, it is a Time Travel show, so he may show up at the same time that another Doctor was running around (Spoilers!)._

_Similarly, one of the problems with a show about time travel is that I may inadvertently create a canon error. I will do my best not to!_

_Also, while Doctor Who nowadays may feature some close ties to the real world, for my purposes, the world of Doctor Who is a separate universe from our own. That's certainly how I viewed it in the classic era and since I don't remember a UFO crashing into Big Ben in 2006 I'm guessing that's how the real writers view it too!_

_I'm not going to deal with the regeneration limit. If he's a post-13 Doctor, please assume that matter has been dealt with._

_Anyway, this is the first story in my own personal take on the Doctor Who universe. I hope you enjoy it._

**.**

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**Overnight Custody**

**Part 1 – Criminal!**

Jamie Marie Foster smiled to herself as the police car drove past slowly. She poked her head out from the alleyway where she had hidden herself, and watched the red rear-lights disappear into the wet and misty night, towards Battersea, near the River Thames. After it had gone completely, she finally stepped out from her hiding place, and pulled her hood up over her head. The rain pattered against her leather jacket as she stepped briskly in the opposite direction to the police car.

She checked her watch. It was now getting on for 2am, and the rain had been hammering South London all night. The clubs were finally starting to empty, the streets weren't as crowded as they would normally be on a Friday night; everyone seemed to have stayed in the dry. She should have been in the dry too, more so than anyone else perhaps, but she couldn't stand the idea of being in that house one more second.

Not with _him_.

As she passed the Dancing Dragon, two very drunk men staggered out the door, laughing and singing loudly. The leader of the little group bumped her, sending her staggering out with them and knocking her hood back onto her shoulders. "Watch it!" she barked.

"Sorry I… Jamie?" replied the man.

"Oh great," thought Jamie, she was in for it now. With her hood up, she retained some degree of anonymity, but now her face was out for all to see. After what had happened, there didn't seem to be anyone left in England who didn't know her face.

"What are you doing out psycho?" the man teased, "shouldn't you be at home?"

"Yeah," his friend joined in, "they'll be out looking for you psycho."

"Let them find me," Jamie sneered back, desperately trying to fein confidence as the lies left her lips. "I've done nothing wrong"

"Yeah well we'll see won't we?" the man chuckled, "I heard a rumour that you messed him up good and proper."

"Well, don't believe everything you hear," growled Jamie, and stormed past them, pulling her hood back up over her now-wet and matted dyed-red hair.

"Hey Psycho!" the man called after her. Jamie stopped for a second and turned her head. "You're going the wrong way, aren't you? I thought your favourite club was that way".

Jamie rolled her eyes and shook her head, walking away as the men laughed hysterically, and headed back in the other direction.

Psycho…

Psycho…

It cut like a knife. She'd already lost her university place over what had happened, she didn't need her life plastered all over the rumour mill, making the rounds with every ne'er-do-well in the local area. The whole thing was meant to stay quiet, but someone had tipped off the tabloids and now everyone had tried and convicted her in their heads. And then there was her father.

It wasn't what she'd done that had upset him, oh no. It wasn't even the threat of her going to prison. No, it was the publicity. Everyone knew her father; in fact many people looked up to him and worshipped the ground he walked on. But he was nothing without his image, and she had taken a sledgehammer to a carefully sculpted image of a perfect family life. With one stupid act she'd wrecked an image he'd worked tirelessly to build.

And then there was…

What was that? A siren blast?

Jamie turned and looked over her shoulder, and saw a police car heading towards her. The registration was different from the one she had seen earlier, but this one was clearly looking for her! She looked left and right desperately, but the only refuge she could see was a large rubbish bin in the car-park of a nearby shop, down another dark alley. Convinced she'd already been spotted, she knew she had no choice, and dashed towards it. As she quickened her pace, the police car pulled up, and both policemen leapt out.

"Miss Foster! Stop! Police!" Jamie darted into the alley and sprinted towards the bin, but hearing the heavy police boots just behind her, knew she'd never manage to hide in there. Her only choice was to keep running and hope for another option, but her options were pretty limited as she entered the car park.

Going back was not an option.

To the left was the road, but if the police backtracked to their car she'd never outrun them there.

To the right lay a row of gardens behind a series of fences, the first over six feet high, she couldn't jump that.

Finally, some luck, as she looked along the fence, she saw that someone had parked their car immediately in front of it, giving her a bit of leverage. She headed towards the car, but still wasn't sure she could make the jump. However, as the boot-steps got louder and closer she knew she had no choice.

Jamie leapt onto the bonnet of the car and ran towards the fence, setting off the alarm as she did. With a burst of energy, she vaulted over the fence, landing in a grass garden on the other side and rolling as she landed. Her ankle stung as she landed, but she hurled herself up.

The boot-steps kept coming, only one pair now, the others disappeared back in the other direction. They were trying to out-flank her!

Jamie kept running as best she could, sprinting across the garden and vaulting the second fence, just as the policeman landed in the garden behind her. She sprinted across the second garden, then the third, narrowly avoiding a small fish pond on the other side. Her heart pounded, her chest hurt, her head raced, and her ankle was really starting to slow her down. Jamie knew she couldn't keep this up much longer. As she reached the fourth fence, she forced her arms to grab the fence.

There was a loud splash behind her. Jamie turned briefly to see that the policeman hadn't been so lucky jumping the third fence, plunging into the pond up to his waist. Jamie allowed herself a cheeky smile as she forced herself over the fence, leaving the policeman struggling to get out of the pond. As she landed in the next garden, her ankle shuddered again. She winced through the pain, realising she had to stop and hide somewhere.

Instead of heading for the next fence, she ran towards the house, reaching into her jacket pocket as she reached the back door. She pulled out her trusty Swiss army knife and deformed hairpin, and jammed them both into the lock. What luck! An old fashioned pin-lock! With a turn of her wrist the door opened and she ran inside, closing the door just as the policeman landed in the garden behind her.

Jamie slumped down against the door, trying to catch her breath and rest her ankle. She pressed her ear up against the wood, and listened. She could hear the policeman trudging round the garden in his soaking wet trousers, looking all around for her. She held what was left of her breath as he came closer to the door, then breathed a sigh of relief as he turned and walked the other way. "I've lost her," he said into his radio. Jamie smiled, leaned her head back and closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

Then suddenly the light went on, and she was confronted by the sight of an elderly white-haired lady standing in the doorway in front of her. Jamie looked around, and found she was in a small, cosy, and now very well-lit kitchen. The woman was shaking with fear as she looked at the young soaking-wet red-haired woman in front of her. "Get out!" she screamed, "Get out of my home!"

"Please," said Jamie, fighting to speak through the pain in her ankle, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just need a place to hi…"

"Get out!" the woman wailed, "I don't have anything worth stealing! Get out of my home!"

"Be quiet!" barked Jamie. She turned her ear back towards the door, trying to block out the old lady's screaming.

The bootsteps approached from outside.

There was a loud knock on the door

"Madam, it's the police. Is everything alright?"

Jamie hung her head, the chase was over.

Five minutes later she found herself by the woman's front door, as the policeman reached for his handcuffs.

"You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you fail to answer when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say…"

"…may be given in evidence", muttered Jamie, "I know the drill. I was a law student you know." The policeman cuffed Jamie's hands behind her back, then shook his head as he lead her slowly through the front door of the house, towards the approaching police car.

"You know," he said, "if you'd just gotten into the car when we pulled up, we'd have kept you in the cell overnight for breaching your bail, your dad would have hired some high flying solicitor, and you'd be home for dinner tomorrow." Jamie didn't react, and continued to stare down at her feet as they walked. The car stopped in front of them, and the other officer got out and walked towards the back door, opening it. "But now," the policeman continued, "we've got breaking and entering, possible assault, criminal damage…"

"I get it, alright?" snarled Jamie, turning to face him and gritting her teeth, "lets just get this over with."

The policeman shook his head again, sadly, and led her towards the car door. "What happened to your trousers?" the second policeman asked, causing Jamie to smirk a little as she remembered the chase.

Suddenly they were all thrown off their feet by a huge explosion, landing on the wet road. Jamie screamed as she hit the ground, her hands still cuffed behind her back. The open doors of the car blew shut, and the car itself rocked from side to side with the force of the explosion. The slamming door seemed to trigger a chain reaction across the neighbourhood, with every car-alarm in the street sounding simultaneously, trees rocking back and forth, dogs barking from inside their homes, and newly switched lights beaming out from every house as people gathered at their windows. Jamie composed herself, and with some difficulty rolled herself over until she was sat up. Her jaw dropped.

Looking north, towards the River Thames and inner London, Jamie could see huge yellow flames roaring up into the sky. From the flames, a massive cloud of soot and ash bellowed up into the night sky, blocking out the stars as it rose higher and higher, and dropping ash down into the neighbourhood with the rain. The two policemen pulled themselves to their feet and adjusted their uniforms, staring along with Jamie.

Slowly, people began emptying into their front gardens, and then out into the street, ignoring the combined rain of water and ash as they stood there in their pyjamas and dressing gowns. Jamie, the policemen, and everyone in the street stood in amazement, transfixed by the flames and smoke as they danced in the night sky.

Suddenly, amidst the chaos, there was a hiss from the police car's radio.

"All available units respond, large explosion at Battersea Power Station, I repeat, Battersea Power Station," it hissed, "possible terrorist action, requesting special response units"

"That doesn't make sense," thought Jamie, "why would terrorists blow up an abandoned power station?"

The radio hissed again, as the two policemen pulled Jamie back to her feet and led her to the car. She cocked her ear in the direction of the car radio as they lowered her into the back and secured her in place.

"One suspect in custody. Suspect is a Caucasian male, aged late thirties to early forties, shoulder length brown hair. Won't give his name, but says he's a Doctor of some kind…"


	2. Sacrifices

In another part of London, out of earshot of the chaos at Battersea, Kate Stewart was just drifting off to a well deserved sleep. With her son Gordon away at University, she'd found herself pulling later and later hours at UNIT headquarters. She didn't mind, as she liked having something to keep her mind occupied, and if she were honest with herself, she hated the big empty house that she found herself living in. However, the last week had taken its toll.

All her time was being taken up by an ongoing investigation into a company known as RICTA Limited. A respected and successful government contractor, RICTA had recently bought up several run-down properties throughout the world, and had announced plans to turn them into what they called "innovation centres." These high-tech laboratories would form part of a new initiative to re-ignite the stalled Earth space programme, as well as developing new Earth-based technology.

At least, that was the official story. About a month ago, an insider known only as "Fox" claimed that RICTA was, in fact, reverse engineering Dalek technology recovered from the invasions several years earlier. Initially this was thought to be impossible: no trace of that technology remained on Earth. However, just over a week ago Fox had managed to secure and covertly supply a sample of Dalekanium. That had put UNIT on full alert, and Kate's division had been working almost every hour of the day since then; trying to get inside information on RICTA's projects.

Right now, however, she was exhausted, and the only thing on her mind was a decent night's sleep - a full 8 hours – before going back to work again.

That was until about 2:30am, when the phone rang. Reaching out from her bed, she begrudgingly answered the phone.

"Yes?" she coughed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry to disturb you ma'am," said the phone, "but I thought you should know. Our police scanner just picked something up…"

….

The chaos the explosion had brought about meant that it was well after 3am before Jamie and the policemen arrived at Battersea Police Station. The rain still wasn't letting up, and Jamie was starting to wish she'd worn that thick jumper after all. Staring out of the window and looking up into the night sky, she could still see the smoke cloud rising from the remains of the power station.

The two policemen hadn't spoken much to each other on the journey back, but that didn't mean she'd had a silent trip. The radio had been crackling non-stop for the entire journey.

From what she could tell, the police had already been on their way to the power station before the incident happened. The explosion had happened just as they'd arrived on the scene, and the only man found anywhere near the explosion was a man who insisted on calling himself "The Doctor." Further, according to the radio, he'd been less than co-operative with the police when they'd found him, and the police had resorted to CS gas to calm him down.

"Still," she thought, "at least someone's having a worse night than me!"

As they finally reached the station, and the driver turned the engine off, Jamie leant forward in the car. "You know," she said, "you could just let me go. With everything going on nobody's going to care about me. I'll go straight home, and we can forget the whole thing."

"Sit down Miss Foster," sighed the driver.

"You broke into an elderly woman's home," agreed the other, "there's no way we can let you go. Doesn't matter what else is…" He stopped suddenly as a police van hurtled round the corner into the station car park, and a flood of officers ran out from the station. "What the hell?" exclaimed the driver, as the police van came to an abrupt stop and the driver joined the melee.

Jamie pressed her nose up against the glass and squinted so she could stare through the veil of heavy rain outside. She watched as four or five police opened the back door of the van and pulled someone from inside. Between the rain and the dark, all Jamie could make out was that he was wearing a long black coat that almost reached the bottom of his legs. The coat swung from side to side in the rain as the prisoner fought vigorously with the officers. Eventually, between the six of them, they managed to subdue the prisoner and dragged him towards the custody suite of the police station. "Strong guy," Jamie thought to herself, as they disappeared from view.

"Strong guy," echoed the driver vocally, as he stepped out into the pouring rain and made his way to Jamie's door. He opened it. "You're not going to try anything like that are you Miss Foster?"

"It's tempting." Jamie smiled a snarky smile. "But I just want to get this over with and go home."

"You won't be going home tonight," said the other policeman, "no chance. Breach of bail alone would have gotten you overnight custody, but breaking and entering? I don't think you'll be going home for quite a while. Tonight, it doesn't matter who your dad is."

Jamie rolled her eyes; it was always about him wasn't it? She slipped out of the car, heading towards the custody suite with her two escorts in tow. They passed beneath the blinking street-lamps, and in through the door.

…

"Where is he now?" barked Kate into her phone as she drove through the rain-soaked streets, dodging the traffic carefully.

"Battersea Police Station ma'am," came the reply, "by all accounts he's being very un-cooperative. They've locked him in the isolated cell."

"Have they taken his screwdriver away?" Kate asked, narrowly moving out of the way of a lorry coming the other way.

"They've emptied his pockets ma'am," the phone replied, "I think the screwdriver was among what they found. They've locked it away"

"Good," said Kate, "get on to Battersea Police Station and tell them no-one is to speak to him until I get there. When he's calmed down, move him to an isolated interview room and leave him there."

"Yes ma'am"

…

"Do you understand all that Miss Foster?" asked the custody sergeant.

"Yes sergeant," replied Jamie, "is my solicitor here yet?"

"He's on his way," replied the sergeant, "your father telephoned him on your behalf. He'll be here in about 15 minutes or so."

"Do I have to wait in a cell?" she asked. The sergeant was about to reply when the phone at his desk rang.

"Yes? Yes sir. What? But he's… oh I see. Very well sir, I'll have that arranged for her. How long will she be? Five minutes, yes sir." He put the phone down and looked at Jamie. "Miss Foster I'm going to have to ask you to wait here." He looked at her two escorts. "You two, keep an eye on her. I'll deal with this as quickly as I can"

He turned on his heel and headed down a corridor signposted "isolation", signalling to three large officers to follow him on his way. Jamie and the two policemen found a bench and sat, waiting for him to return. Shortly, the three officers returned shortly with the prisoner Jamie had seen earlier, no calmer than he was before. But now, for the first time, she could see him clearly.

The black coat she had seen earlier was actually a very dark blue, with a shimmer that caught the light as he moved. He wore light, almost sand-coloured trousers which ran down into a pair of brown boots with gold buckles. On his top half he wore a collarless shirt that matched his jacket's colour, with a gold waistcoat fastened up to the middle of his chest. Around his neck he wore a gold chain, ending in a pendant with an engraved pattern upon it.

His hair was a shoulder length wet mess of brown hair, which drifted down over his brown eyes, almost hiding them from view. Dark stubble covered the bottom half of his face, like he hadn't shaved for a number of days.

All in all, he looked like a crash of three or four different time periods in one wardrobe; the overall look was a cross between a swashbuckling pirate, and an elegant French aristocrat.

The prisoner continued to shout at the officers. "Listen to me!" he yelled, "we are all in danger. He escaped before the explosion, you have to let me go!" He shook one arm free and threw the custody sergeant hard against the wall, sending him crashing in a heap to the ground. With his free arm he reached round and grabbed one of the other officers, trying to free his second arm. They struggled with him.

"Help!" called the custody sergeant, and the two policeman either side of Jamie ran forward to assist, re-trapping the prisoner's free arm and dragging him off down the corridor towards the interview rooms. He continued to scream and shout as the sergeant on the floor pulled himself back up to his feet. He looked around the custody suite at Jamie and all the other suspects, all of whom were trying unsuccessfully to stifle their laughter. "Yeah yeah," he sneered, "hilarious."

Jamie's escorts reappeared, shaking their heads at the conduct of the man they'd just secured in the interview room. They took back their seats next to Jamie, and she smiled at them. "Did he flatten you two as well?" she giggled.

"Shut up Miss Foster," said the sergeant, who had overheard her, "you're in enough trouble as it is."

"Sergeant Philips?" came a voice back by the entrance to the custody suite.

"What is it now?" the sergeant, turning to face her.

"Kate Stewart," said Kate, presenting her UNIT credentials to him for inspection, "I believe you were expecting me."

…

The Doctor stared at the table in front of him, and then at his handcuffed wrists. He pulled back on them hard, but found himself locked to the table. He scowled. This was a waste of time. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered to save the Human race as often as he did; they really did make it hard for him sometimes.

"He's in there," came a voice from outside the room, "but don't expect a friendly welcome." The door opened, and in walked a familiar face. The Doctor smiled, but was met with a cold hard stare from his UNIT ally. "I'll… leave you two to it" said the sergeant, closing the door behind him.

Kate stood in the doorway, staring at the man in front of her. This wasn't the Doctor she remembered.

"You've regenerated," she said.

"I do that," said the Doctor sarcastically, "I thought you knew."

"What I know," continued Kate, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from the Doctor, "is that I am sick of putting out your fires. UNIT does not exist to clear up the Doctor's mess by request."

"Your father never complained."

"I'm not my father," barked Kate, "and if he were here do you really think he'd be happy about this?"

The Doctor stared down at his shoes.

"That's what I thought," continued Kate. She reached down into her bag and brought out a set of three files. "Three landmark buildings, all abandoned. Three explosions. And now a fourth, and who do they find at the scene?"

"If you're here to get an apology," interrupted the Doctor, "you're going to have a long wait."

Kate sighed. "Then it was you, you admit it?"

"Happily," said the Doctor.

"All four?"

"All four."

"Why?"

The Doctor took a deep breath, and said nothing. He leant forward, putting his handcuffed hands under the table and leaning his arms against the edge of it.

"Doctor I asked you a question," said Kate, "why did you blow up the buildings."

"You know there used to be a time," said the Doctor, "when UNIT trusted me."

"UNIT still trusts you Doctor," said Kate, "but tomorrow I'm going to have to go in front of the Home Secretary and explain to him why a man I have to keep reminding him is an ally blew up Battersea Power Station."

"Kate, we don't have time for this."

"Make time"

"I can't," snarled the Doctor, "you have to get me out of here now, or we are all in trouble."

"What trouble?"

"I don't have time to explain," urged the Doctor, "you have to let me go!"

"Did you check whether those buildings were abandoned?"

The Doctor cocked his head to one side and stared at Kate.

"Of course they're abandoned," he replied, "everyone knows that. Battersea's been abandoned since the 1970s."

"What if they weren't, Doctor?" said Kate. "Homeless people use them. Battersea's not too far from houses where children live. Did you think about that?"

"Are you accusing me of something Ms Stewart?" snarled the Doctor.

"If Battersea had been, say, a block of flats with 250 people in it would you still have done it?" asked Kate. The Doctor looked away from her. "Answer the question Doctor," she said, "would you still have done it?"

The Doctor remained silent. Kate opened the last folder and threw a building plan towards the Doctor. "The police found this on you. This is a plan for St Barnabus House. 247 people live there, including 30 children. Your next target Doctor?"

"Sacrifices have to be made!" exclaimed the doctor, "what's 250 people next to six billion? Doing the right thing doesn't always mean doing the good thing."

Kate shook her head. "My father would be ashamed of you," she said.

"Yeah," said the Doctor, "well right now I'm not too fond of me either."

Kate sat back in her chair. "What happened to you?"

"Not me," said the Doctor, "it's never me."

…

Outside, Jamie was sitting with her lawyer, Mr Fargrant. The two policemen had joined the custody sergeant at the desk and were enjoying a nice cup of tea before heading back out on patrol.

"Is that everything?" asked Mr Fargrant.

"Yeah," said Jamie, rolling her eyes as she did.

"Okay. Here's what we're going to do. First we…"

Mr Fargrant was suddenly interrupted as the lights in the station began flickering on and off.

….

In the interview room, the lights began flickering on and off too. The Doctor looked up, and then back at Kate.

"Kate," he said quickly, "listen to me. You have got to let me go. He's here, and we are all in a lot of trouble, you have to trust me."

"Who's here?" asked Kate.

Suddenly, the room was plunged into pitch black. The emergency lights came on shortly afterward, filling the room with a creepy red glow.

…

Out in the custody suite, the sergeant stared at the door as a figure dressed in an all-black coat with a hood slowly moved towards him. The figure was easily seven feet tall and had long flowing arms, but the sergeant couldn't see any hands. The figure's legs were completely hidden by the coat, and it looked as if he was gliding along the ground as he moved. As the figure reached the desk, he lifted his arm towards the sergeant's chest. The sergeant cried out in pain, it felt as though an invisible claw was gripping his chest, tearing at his heart. He looked down and saw that the figure was, somehow, lifting him into the air towards his face. But when he looked towards the figure's face and saw that there was nothing there. Just an empty, dark void.

The figure in front of him was literally a long, black, hooded cloak floating on nothing. Nearby, Jamie, Mr Fargrant and the two arresting officers stared.

The figure moved its "head" to one side, almost as though it was "inspecting" the desk sergeant.

After a while, it spoke, its voice somehow simultaneously a howl and a whisper.

"Where… is… the Doctor?"


End file.
